The 2015 shortlist will be unveiled on May 18, with the $60,000 prize awarded on June 23.

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The Australia Council has announced it will award the novelist Thomas Keneally for his lifetime achievement in literature. Keneally is one of 10 Australians to be recognised by the council for outstanding contributions to the arts landscape in 2015.

The Australian author of The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The Widow and Her Hero and Schindler’s Ark, for which he won the Man Booker prize in 1982, will be presented with the award at a ceremony in Sydney on 19 March.

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an awful lot happened between the end of 1983’s Return of the Jedi and the beginning of much-hyped Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens. Disney is to release at least 20 books this autumn with the aim of filling the gap between the two films ahead of the release of JJ Abrams’s much-hyped big screen revival of the long-running space opera.

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George RR Martin expressed his pleasure at a long overdue acceptance of fantasy “into the canon of world literature”, as he donated a rare first edition of The Hobbit to a Texas university.

The volume, one of only 1,500 first editions printed, was purchased by the fantasy novelist for Texas A&M University. JRR Tolkien’s story of Bilbo Baggins’s quest is the university library’s five millionth volume.

>>>>>Fifty years after Omar Sharif and Julie Christie captivated audiences in David Lean’s Oscar-winning epic film Doctor Zhivago, the musical adaptation of the love story set during the upheaval of the Russian Revolution will open on Broadway.

The musical is based on Boris Pasternak’s novel that became an international bestseller after it was smuggled out of the Soviet Union and published in Italy in 1957. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel prize for literature a year later.

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A book which helped changed the course of English history, part of the evidence Henry VIII and his lawyers gathered in the 1530s to help win an annulment from Catherine of Aragon and ultimately to break with Rome, has turned up on the shelves of the magnificent library at Lanhydrock, a National Trust mansion in Cornwall. The book was damaged but escaped destruction in a disastrous fire at the house in 1881, and crucially the fly-leaf survived. It still carries the number 282, written in black ink in the top right-hand corner, which Prof James Carley identified as corresponding with an inventory taken in 1542 of the most important of Henry’s books, five years before the king’s death.

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Bestselling crime writer Agatha Christie hoarded hundreds of letters from her readers which have been published for the first time to mark the 125th anniversary of her birth. Christie, who penned 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, also treasured a 1958 letter from a 14-year-old boy in Bristol who started a book club at his school so he could raise funds to buy her work.

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James Joyce might have described writing in English as “the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives”, but the people of Britain appear unconcerned, with the role of author voted the most desired job in the country.

A new poll for YouGov of almost 15,000 people found that 60% would like to be an author.

The BBC burnt through £20,000-worth of candles during the filming of its costume drama Wolf Hall, according to its director. Peter Kosminsky said hi-tech cameras meant he could do away with traditional studio lights while filming the book-to-screen BBC2 drama.

Reports that the literary novel might be dead, or at least in steady decline, are wide of the mark, the judging chairman of the Folio prize has said as he announced a shortlist of eight writers for the award, including Ali Smith and Colm Tóibín.

William Fiennes said on Monday he had been struck by how many novelists were “reaching out for new ways of telling stories” and experimenting with form – evidence surely that the novel was “flourishing with life”.

Five women and three men from the UK, Ireland, US, Canada, Kenya and India were named on the shortlist of a literary prize now in its second year.

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Tess Gerritsen, the bestselling thriller novelist, sold the film rights to her book Gravity to production company Katja in 1999, who in turn were owned by New Line. She was paid $1m, with an extra $500,000 and 2.5% net profits promised if a film was subsequently produced. She alleges that the film adaptation of Gravity is based on her book, and is seeking $10m in damages.

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A group of American critics has named Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, an ingenious take on the life of an overweight Dominican-American nerd, as the best novel of the 21st century.

One special edition of James Patterson's new novel 'Private Vegas', for sale at $300,000, will include a five-course dinner with the author, gold binoculars – and a very limited time to read it. The novel will self destruct a day after it’s been opened.

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The nine publishers battling to secure Emma Healey’s book Elizabeth is Missing were clearly on to something, as it has been showered with critical praise and now has won the Costa first novel prize for 2014.

JK Rowling says that “girls are very apt to romanticise” the antihero, and reveals that she had been forced to pour “cold common sense” on the startling number of readers who fall for the arrogant, unscrupulous bully Draco Malfoy in her Harry Potter books.

Rowling has been providing new snippets about the world of Harry Potter on her website Pottermore for the past 10 days, giving fans insights into everything from a “ghost” storyline that she didn’t include in the final story, to the history of the Leaky Cauldron pub. She has now unveiled her lengthiest piece of writing yet, offering a glimpse into the future of Harry Potter’s arch enemy Draco, and her own thoughts on the character.

Our skills become rusty and eventually disappear when they go unused. As a result, humans are becoming less capable as we rely increasingly on technology. This is the thesis of a new book, The Glass Cage, by US technology writer Nicholas Carr, whose previous work has included the popular essay “Is Google Making us Stupid?”. He argues that our jobs and lives are being impoverished by our dependence on computers and automation.

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The inaugural Voss Literary Prize for “best novel of the previous year” has been awarded to Fiona McFarlane for The Night Guest. She receives $6500 and pipped Hannah Kent, Christos Tsiolkas, Tim Winton and Alexis Wright. No, the prize is not named after Patrick White’s novel, Voss. It comes from a bequest made in the will of Vivian Robert Le Vaux Voss, an historian who died in 1963. The Voss Literary Prize is overseen by the Australian University Heads of English

LONDON: Melbourne author Anna Krien has become the second woman to land the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award in its 26-year history.

Her book Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark Heart of Sport, about the rape trial of a young AFL footballer, beat six other nominees to the £26,000 pounds ($41,000) prize.

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Perth writer Judith Bridge has won first prize in The Scarlet Stiletto Awards for her short story ‘Amy’s Sandal’. The awards, presented by Sisters in Crime to recognise short crime stories written by Australian women, were announced at a ceremony in Melbourne on Friday.

Judith Bridge was awarded the HarperCollins First Prize, worth $1500. Julianne Negri won the Pantera Press Second Prize ($1000) for ‘#hitandrun’. Fin J Ross won the Sun Bookshop Third Prize ($500) for ‘What’s a Girl to Do?’. Natalie Conyer won the Athenaeum Library ‘Body in the Library’ Award ($1000) for ‘The Book Club’.

An ebook of the winning stories, Scarlet Stiletto Short Stories: 2014 (Clan Destine Press) is now available.

In honour of Movember and the celebration of the mighty, magnificent mustachio, Random House has assembled five of its titles featuring the best moustaches in literature. These are:

• V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

• Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

• Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

A Guinness World Record attempt at ‘the most people simultaneously balancing a book on their head and walking 5m’ has earned Dubbo’s Macquarie Regional Library an award. The Youth Week activity won the library a prize at this year’s NSW Public Library Marketing Awards.

The young people were endeavouring to beat the current world record of 939 people in Silver City in the Philippines. They also donated books to the Tanzaroo Community Library project, which aims to establish free public libraries in Tanzanian villages.

Chilean-American author, Isabel Allende, has been selected one of 19 recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. The White House announcement also named Meryl Streep, Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Wonder and Tom Brokaw — himself a best-selling author — on the list of those to be honored.

President Obama explained the selections in a statement:

"From activists who fought for change to artists who explored the furthest reaches of our imagination; from scientists who kept America on the cutting edge to public servants who help write new chapters in our American story, these citizens have made extraordinary contributions to our country and the world."

Last month a group of more than 500 writers, musicians, actors, artists, illustrators and educators, called on the people of Liverpool U.K. to add their voices to concerns about the threat to 11 of Liverpool’s 18 libraries. The council had seen a 58% cut in its government funding, which it had said necessitated a £2.5m loss to its library service.

A “love letter” to Liverpool’s libraries from an army of major writers depicting the planned closure of 11 branches as “a massacre” has been answered by the city’s council: all 18 of Liverpool’s libraries will stay open.

Richard Flanagan's Booker-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, cited by judges of that prize as an "outstanding work of literature", has landed another, rather more dubious accolade: a spot on the shortlist for the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award, for a passage in which the act of love is interrupted by a dog killing a fairy penguin.

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Congratulations - -

to Fiona McFarlane, author of The Night Guest and Margo Lanagan, author of Sea Hearts, who have been named joint winners of the Barbara Jefferis Award for 2014. The Barbara Jefferis Award is offered for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society”,

to Ashley Hay, winner of the People's Choice Award in the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for her novel The Railwayman's Wife,

and finally, to Lily Brett who is the first Australian and only the fourth woman to win the Prix Medicis Etranger for her most recent novel, Lola Bensky. The prize is given to an author of a work that has been translated into French from another language.

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Described as ‘beautifully British’, the ‘subtle yet devastating’ put-down oversharewas today named word of the year by the Chambers Dictionary. Collins, however, has plumped for photobomb as its choice, citing the words 100% increase in usage over the past year.”

It's perhaps the most famous scene in all of English literature: Juliet stands on her balcony with Romeo in the garden below, star-crossed lovers meeting by moonlight. Colloquially known as "the balcony scene," it contains Romeo and Juliet's most quoted lines. There's only one problem: There is no balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

The word "balcony" never appears in Shakespeare's play. In fact, Shakespeare didn't know what a balcony was. Not only was there no balcony in Romeo and Juliet, there was no balcony in all of Shakespeare's England. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known use in English of the word "balcone" (as it was then spelled) didn’t occur until 1618, two years after Shakespeare died. Even the concept of a balcony was (literally) foreign to Shakespeare's British contemporaries.

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leasure children get from reading is being put at risk by the teaching methods being used to encourage literacy, says Frank Cottrell. The writer, who won the 2004 Carnegie medal for his first children’s book, Millions, passionately defends reading for the sake of reading. He says that children are too often asked to analyse the text of a book or respond to a story with their own story, polluting the whole reading experience.

Terminally ill Australian author, critic and raconteur Clive James has detailed his revelations of life and death in an emotional poem. The poem 'Japanese Maple' was published by The New Yorker, and is being lauded as James' last work.

The 74-year-old describes his growing fascination with nature as his condition deteriorates, and writes about the beauty of the Japanese maple tree given to him by his daughter. In it, James predicts his death is "near now" but will be "of an easy sort" as "so slow a fading out brings no real pain".

Anna Todd kept her hobby secret from her husband, but a six-figure deal for three steamy books will now be followed by a film, all based on her fictionalised version of the boy band One Direction.

Australian author Thomas Keneally has been presented with one of Ireland’s 2014 Presidential Distinguished Service Awards.

The awards, which span numerous categories including the arts, recognise the contribution of the Irish abroad to Ireland and to its international reputation. Tom Keneally’s work has spanned many countries and peoples but the Irish are recurring subjects.," said Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a statement. "In 1992 he published Now and In Time to Be, a travelogue reflecting on Ireland and the Irish. In 1998 he published The Great Shame, his non-fiction work covering an 80-year period and charting the history of the Irish who were dispersed around the world during and after the Famine. Three Famines: Starvation and Politics, published in 2011, looks at the Great Famine in Ireland.

Jean Patrick Modiano, a French novelist, is the recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have been celebrated in and around France, though only a few were in circulation in English when he was awarded the Prize this month.

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A book-shaped park bench dedicated to fantasy author Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere has fetched £5,000 at a UK auction. The Neverwhere bench, illustrated by Chris Riddell, is in the foyer of The Guardian newspaper’s offices in London, where it is attracting fans. Fifty colourful benches were dotted around London for the UK summer creating interest for cultural sightseers. The Neverwhere bench and The Paddington Bear bench, painted by Michelle Heron, were both chosen as locations for wedding proposals. The benches were auctioned this week, raising £251,500 to improve literacy in the UK.

Gillian Flynn’s popular suspense novel Gone Girl has made a successful transition to the big screen. The movie thriller starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike generated $US37.5 million over its first three days in US cinemas. Published in 2012, the best-selling novel focuses on writer-turned-bar-owner Nick Dunne who finds himself in a media circus when his wife goes missing on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary. Flynn, who is a former writer for Entertainment Weekly, wrote the screenplay which fits comfortably into the genres of mystery, suspense and crime.

A Melbourne psychiatrist has landed a deal with a US publishing house for a six-book series for children called Sebastian and the Hibernauts. Brendan Murphy’s series charts the adventures of Sebastian Duffy, 12, who has to overcome the school bullies to save the world. The stories are influenced by Murphy’s interest in Nordic, Egyptian and Irish mythology.

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An unpublished story by the late Ian Fleming in which James Bond takes on the Russians and gets involved in a Formula One race, is to form the basis for a new 007 novel by Anthony Horowitz. Murder on Wheels was written by Fleming in the 50s, as one of several episode treatments for a Bond TV series which fell through because the films took over.

Everest diaries of mountaineer Edward Norton will be published. The private diaries and sketchbooks of the mountaineer who tackled Everest with tragic climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine will be published for the first time, almost 100 years after they died.

Amtrak, The National Railroad Passenger Corporation in the USA, has chosen its first class of 24 writers for its residency program. There were 16,000 applications. They’ll ride on long-distance trains and write about the experiences.

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Welsh poet and author Dr Dannie Abse, a one-time winner of the Wales Book of the Year award, has died at 91. The writer, who recently lived in north London, was once hailed as being “at the top of the Welsh tree” by the country’s literary body and named a CBE for his talents in the 2012 New Year honours.

UK booksellers are celebrating crime author James Patterson’s sunnier side after he handed out over £130,000 to independent bookshops in a quest to get children reading. Patterson, who topped Forbes’s recent list of the world’s richest authors with earnings of more than $90m in the last year, announced his intention to give £250,000 to UK bookshops, following a pledge to donate $1m to US bookshops last September. “Far too many children are in danger of living their lives without books. This runs the risk of living in a world run by the short-sighted, by the empathy-challenged, and by the glib,” said the novelist at the time. “Bookshops are the most viable bulwark against this and I need to be part of the fight to ensure their survival.”

In a move condemned by free speech advocates, the the Maldive islands’ government moves to curb literature and poetry’s ‘adverse effects on society’ and to protect Islamic codes. Poetry and literature will have to be approved by the Maldivian government before they are published in the country, according to new regulations. Published earlier this month, the regulations are intended to “standardise all literature … publicised and published in the Maldives in accordance with laws and regulations of the Maldives and its societal etiquette”, and to “reduce adverse effects on society that could be caused by published literature”.

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A new musical theatre production based on Sonya Hartnett’s novel The Silver Donkey is being produced to commemorate the Anzac Centenary. Award-winning musical theatre writers Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank have adapted the story which centres around three children and a blind soldier. The stories he tells change the children’s lives.

The Australian Government’s Anzac Centenary Production and Commissioning Fund is providing a $100,000 grant.

Australian author Liane Moriarty has become the first Australian author to have two books simultaneously in the New York Times’ best-selling list. The Sydney author’s new release Big Little Lies, about a murder at a school trivia night, has gone straight to the top of the list. The Husband’s Secret was published a year ago and also reached number one. In this novel a woman finds a letter from her husband that is only to be opened in the event of his death. However, he is very much alive. More than 1 million copies of The Husband’s Secret have sold worldwide.

A great-great-grandmother from Utah has become a first-time novelist at the age of 86. Georgia Gorringe said it took her five years to write her romance novel No Good-bye, which tells the story of a bored housewife who falls for a man she hears on talk-back radio. Written under the alias, Georgie Marie, the 176-page novel has been picked up by Amazon.com.

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ONgugi wa Thiong'o is being tipped as winner of the 2014 Nobel prize in literature next month - October.

Eleanor Catton, the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker prize, has announced that she will put the money from her latest awards win towards establishing a grant that will give writers "time to read".

A lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children almost 50 years ago, has been published for the first time.

The chapter, in Saturday's Guardian Review, with new illustrations by Sir Quentin Blake, was found among Dahl's papers after his death. It was chapter five in one of many early drafts of the book, one of the best-loved children's books, but was cut from the version first published in the US in 1964 and in the UK in 1967.

ne hundred years after Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated ship the Endurance set sail for the Antarctic, Sotheby's has announced the auction of a collection of Shackleton literary and historical treasures.

A first edition of Shackleton's account of his journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia, once owned by Shackleton's family, will also be part of the auction, as will Shackleton's copy of The Antarctic Manual, used for his Discovery expedition in 1901 – his first journey to the South Pole.

The undying reign of vampire films looks set to continue as Universal Pictures acquires the movie rights to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series of 13 novels. Rice’s son Christopher is also involved, with the deal including the screenplay he adapted from his mother’s book Tale of the Body Thief. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, producers of the recent Transformers and Star Trek movies, will oversee the series.

The actor Benedict Cumberbatch is to narrate the first ever unabridged recording of William Golding's The Spire, first published in 1964.

George W Bush has written a biography of "a great servant, statesman, and father": his own. The 43rd president of America announced on Thursday that his "personal biography" of George Bush Sr, the 41st president of America, would be published on 11 November this year. Crown, his publisher, said it would have a first print run of one million hardbacks in the US.

Three stories written in the 1940s by The Catcher in the Rye author, JD Salinger, have gone on sale to the public for the first time in 70 years. Independent publisher Devault-Graves says that Salinger's three early Stories - The Young Folks, Go See Eddie and Once a Week Won't Kill You - had never been registered to the author.

Enid Blyton's beloved Famous Five series is to be made into a film after UK production company Working Title acquired the theatrical rights to the books.The production company confirmed it had recently snapped up the rights to the whole library of the children's series, spanning more than 20 books, and intends to launch a live action franchise based on the quaint adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog.

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Burt Reynolds will publish a memoir in 2015 called But Enough About Me. The book will be co-written by Jon Winokur and include a forward by Deliverance co-star Jon Voight.

Hillary Clinton's new book, Hard Choices, has been effectively banned in China. BuzzFeed reports that no Chinese publisher would touch the political memoir, due to fears of the Chinese government censors.

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Mark Romanek, director of Never Let Me Go, is Warner Bros pick to direct Overlook Hotel, the studio's prequel to the classic Stanley Kubrick horror film The Shining. Overlook Hotel will draw on Stephen King's original prologue to the source novel, but which was not included when it was first published in 1977. The film will tell the story of the early days of the hotel, built by "robber baron" Bob T Watson, in the early years of the 20th century.

South African Nobel Prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer has died in Johannesburg aged 90.

Fictional boy wizard Harry Potter made his first appearance in seven years, returning as a nearly 34-year-old with grey hairs in a new short story by author JK Rowling.

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Bestselling author Vince Flynn died last year at the age of 47, but his popular Mitch Rapp novels will live on. Flynn's family and his long-time editor Emily Bestler announced that the series will now be written by bestselling author Kyle Mills. Flynn had 15 million of his books in print. He wrote political thrillers. His popular character Mitch Rapp is a CIA counter-terrorism expert who faces numerous threats.

Simon and Schuster announced that internationally bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark has teamed up with bestselling crime author Alafair Burke to write a collaborative novel. Ms. Clark, who has sold more than 100 million copies of her books in the U.S. alone, and Ms. Burke are busy writing The Cinderella Murder which will be published in November, 2014.

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Matt Groening, the creator and executive producer of The Simpsons, will publish The Simpsons Family History, in September 2014. The book will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the popular animated series.

The Harvard Library ran tests that confirm a book in the library is bound in human skin. Samples were taken from various locations on the binding of the book and analyzed in the lab. The book is a copy of Des destinees de l'ame by French novelist and poet Arsene Houssaye.The description of the book on the Harvard Library website says, "Bound in human skin, taken from the back of the unclaimed body of a woman patient in a French mental hospital who died suddenly of apoplexy." Harvard's Senior Rare Book Conservator Alan Puglia says they are 99% confident that the binding is of human origin.

Jennifer Lopez will publish a memoir with Celebra, an imprint of Penguin. The memoir, called True Love, will be published in English and Spanish on October 28, 2014. The book title is close to the recently announced title of Jlo's new single, First Love, from her upcoming album, A.K.A.The book will cover the 2012 divorce from singer Marc Anthony. It will also discuss her journey as a mother and artist and explain how she overcame her biggest fears.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry has published his 46th book called The Last Kind Words Saloon. The book tells the story about the end of the Western frontier life through the eyes of the legendary Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

Vale Maya Angelou. The legendary poet, writer, performer, teacher and political activist, perhaps best known for her 1969 autobiography, I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS, has passed away at the age of 86.

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Meanwhile in the US of A...The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. They honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theater published or produced in the previous year. Some of the winners include:

Best Novel: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger Best Fact Crime: The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower Best Critical/Biographical: America is Elsewhere: The Noir Tradition in the Age of Consumer Culture by Erik Dussere Best Juvenile: One Came Home by Amy Timberlake Best Young Adult: Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher Grand Master: Robert Crais and Carolyn Hart The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award: Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman

Margaret Atwood (Madd Addam) and Kathleen Jamie (Sightlines) are the winners of the 2014 Orion Book Award. The annual award from Orion magazine recognizes books published in North America during the previous calendar year. The award is presented to books "that deepen the reader's connection to the natural world."

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On July 8th, the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird will be released as an e-book and a digital audiobook for the first time ever. The author, Harper Lee, says that, although she is still “old-fashioned” and prefers traditional books, she is glad that To Kill a Mockingbird will hopefully reach a new generation.

US director Steven Spielberg will begin shooting Roald Dahl's children's classic The BFG in 2015. This new project will see the Big Friendly Giant’s friendship with a little orphan girl brought to life for DreamWorks.

The British Library will unveil a £33m newspaper reading room! The state-of-the-art facility will store more than three centuries of newspapers and magazines dating back to the English civil war.Dismissed by some as tomorrow's chip paper but indispensable to others as a first draft of history, nearly 400 years of newspapers will be available for perusal next Monday.

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Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will publish his memoir with Grand Central Publishing, a division of the Hachette Book Group. Michael Balzary (Flea) is writing the memoir himself. A publication date and name for the book have not yet been determined.

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Australian author Hannah Kent has been shortlisted for the UK Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel Burial Rites.

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Russell Brand has written a collection of fairy stories and folk tales called Russell Brand's Trickster Tales. The first book is called The Pied Piper of Hamlet and will be published later this year by Simon and Schuster imprint Atria.

Mammy, the slave devoted to her mistress Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, is to be given her own back story by the author Donald McCaig, in what its publisher said was "a necessary correction" to how the black characters in Margaret Mitchell's bestselling novel are portrayed.

Authorised by the Mitchell Estate, the novel is billed as a prequel to Gone With the Wind, and will see McCaig give Mammy both a name – Ruth – and a past. It will be published by Atria in the US in October.

It might sound more Fifty Shades of Grey than 007, but a series of letters by a young Ian Fleming to his Austrian lover see the man who would go on to create James Bond detailing how he would like "to hurt you because you have earned it and in order to tame you like a little wild animal". The collection of letters and photographs are to be auctioned at the New York antiquarian book fair week by booksellers Peter Harrington, who are expecting they could fetch up to £47,500.

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To celebrate his 80th birthday writer David Malouf has published collections of his personal essays and poems.

Eminent writers Mark Haddon and Philip Pullman have poured scorn on "despicable" new rules from the UK Ministry of Justice, which effectively ban prisoners from being sent books from outside. Calling the rules a "malign and pointless extra punishment, which is not only malign and small-minded but desperately counterproductive", Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, has begun a mission to get "every writer in the UK publicly opposed to this by tea time".

Poems That Make Grown Men Cry is an anthology of some of the most emotive lines in literature chosen by 100 famous and admired men, ranging from Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, John Le Carre and Jonathan Franzen. Published next month by Simon and Schuster and edited by the journalist and biographer Anthony Holden and his film-producer son, Ben, the book is winning praise for introducing male readers to unfamiliar works – and emotions.

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Maxine Beneba Clarke has won the 2014 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship. The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established in 2011 by the Hazel Rowley Literary Fund, with the support of Writers Victoria, to encourage Australian authors to attain a high standard of biography writing and to commemorate the life, ideas and writing of Hazel Rowley, who died in 2011. Clarke will use the $10,000 fellowship to research her family’s migration path from the Caribbean to Australia for her memoir The Hate Race. Clarke won the 2013 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for her short-story collection Foreign Soil in May 2013. Soon after, she signed a three-book deal with Hachette to publish The Hate Race along with Foreign Soil, which will be published in May, and her debut novel Asphyxiation.

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Harry Potter author JK Rowling is to co-produce a stage show about the wizard's early years living with his cruel non-magical aunt and uncle.

Stephen King's next novel, Mr. Mercedes, comes out on June 3 in the US. It appears to be raining blood on the book cover, which features a blue umbrella. The novel, described as a war between good and evil, is being published by Scribner.

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer has been named the 2013 Costa Book of the Year. The novel tells the story of a teenager's descent into mental illness. The Costas are a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in Britain and Ireland.

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Amazon editors have hand-selected what they call "a bucket list of books to create a well-read life."

Sara Nelson, Editorial Director of Print and Kindle Books at Amazon.com, said in a statement, "With 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, we set out to build a roadmap of a literary life without making it feel like a homework assignment.”

Here are some highlights of the list: • The list ranges from children's picture books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, to hard science, A Brief History of Times by Stephen Hawking. • Stephen King has just one book on the list, The Shining. • There are no novels by bestsellers Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Agatha Christie, Dean Koontz, Dr. Seuss. Douglas Adams or Michael Crichton on the list. • The oldest book on the list is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) and the most recent book is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (2013). • The editors say 1984 by George Orwell, which is listed, inspired the most internal debate. >>>>

Independent Melbourne bookseller Readings has announced that it will present two new literary awards to Australian authors this year.

The Readings New Australian Writing Award will be presented for an Australian work of fiction that is the author’s first or second published book. The award is worth $4000.

The Readings Children’s Book Prize is also worth $4000. It will be presented to an Australian author writing for children aged between five and 12 years, who has had no more than four children’s books published.

Winners will be announced in November.

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Alaric Hunt, a convicted murderer who has been jailed since 1988, received $10,000 prize from the Private Eye Writers of America, and a publishing deal for his novel Cuts Through Bone.

Cornwall’s legendary Jamaica Inn, where Daphne Du Maurier wrote her bestselling novel, has gone on sale for £2m.

Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane has been named the UK’s 2013 Book of the Year. It tells the tale of a man returning to his childhood home for a funeral, and won the public vote from a shortlist of the year’s ten National Book Award winners.

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Thirty Australian authors including David Malouf, Thomas Keneally, Helen Garner and Nick Cave have joined an international call for a bill of digital rights to protect people's privacy on the internet. Five hundred authors from 100 countries signed the petition. Lily Brett, Larissa Behrendt and Frank Moorhouse have also put their names to the statement, which says all humans have the right to remain unobserved and unmolested.

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A recent study in the US found that despite the advent of e-books, readers really love paper books and have no intention of giving them up. The study was called "The Evolution of the Book Industry: Implications for U.S. Book Manufacturers and Printers." It found that nearly 70% of consumers felt it was unlikely that they will give up on printed books by 2016. Readers have an emotional attachment to printed books and enjoy the physical aspects of them. >>>he study found that despite the advent of ebooks, readers really love paper books and have no intention of giving them up. The study was called "The Evolution of the Book Industry: Implications for U.S. Book Manufacturers and Printers." It found that nearly 70% of consumers felt it was unlikely that they will give up on printed books by 2016. Readers have an emotional attachment to printed books and enjoy the physical aspects of them. Best selling author Bill Bryson is heading to Australia for a series of live shows in March next year. The author of travel books, including Down Under, Neither Here Nor There and A Walk in the Woods, will speak at a series of events around the country.Entitled Bill Bryson - Many a True Word, an Illuminating Interview, the author will talk with Ray Martin about his life, books, travel, history and science. He has also written books on science, language, Shakespeare and his own childhood in the memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.Tickets have just gone on sale - $85 to $185. To book, go to ticketmaster.com.au

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The organisers of the prestigious Booker Prize for literature have announced it is expanding to cover all novels written in English.The prize - which has been open only to citizens of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland since its launch in 1969 - will from 2014 see competition from US authors, although any author writing in English anywhere on the planet can become eligible."The winner of the Man Booker Prize from 2014 will be able to say 'I am the best in the English speaking world'," Booker Prize Foundation literary director Ion Trewin told reporters

Six tales from gold-rush New Zealand to Zimbabwe, the English countryside and elsewhere on the planet were shortlisted for this year's prize, which will be awarded on October 15.>>>>Since 1987, Mystery Readers International (MRI) has been bestowing the Macavity Awards annually in several categories - Best Mystery Novel, Best First Mystery Novel, Best Bio/Critical Mystery Work and Best Mystery Short Story.MRI is a USA-based fan/reader organisation open to all readers, fans, critics, editors, publishers and writers of Mystery Fiction. The Macavity Award is named for T.S. Eliot's 'mystery cat' and the Best Mystery Novel published in 2012 went to Louise Penny for The Beautiful Mystery. Click here to place a hold. >>>>>>>>>>>>>A criminally good shortlist is just out - the 2013 Davitt Awards for crime writing by Australian women, presented by Sisters in Crime. The awards will be announced on 31 August.Fiction: Cold Grave by Kathryn Fox. Paving the New Road, Sulari Gentill. Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute, Maggie Groff. Walking Shadows, Narrelle M. Harris. Silent Fear, Katherine Howell. Silent Valley, Malla Nunn. Sisters of Mercy, Caroline Overington. The Poet's Cottage, Josephine Pennicott.

In the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards - the richest literary awards in Australia, a total of $595,000 will be bestowed in six Award categories. The shortlist for adult fiction and non-fiction:

Fiction:Floundering by Romy AshThe Chemistry of Tears by Peter CareyQuestions of Travel by Michelle de KretserLost Voices by Christopher KochMateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

Non-fiction:Bradman’s War by Malcolm KnoxUncommon Soldier by Chris MastersPlein Airs and Graces by Adrian MitchellThe Australian Moment by George MegalogenisBold Palates by Barbara Santich

>>>>>>2013 Women's Prize for FictionLast night, 5 June 2013, at an awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, London, American author A.M. Homes was presented with the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction (£30,000 prize and the ‘Bessie’ bronze figurine) for her novel May We Be Forgiven.

2013 marks the eighteenth year of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, known from 1996 to 2012 as the Orange Prize for Fiction, which celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.

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Diagram Prize

Back in March we shortlisted the titles in the running for the Oddest Book Title of the year (2012). And the winner is ... drumroll ...

Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop joins former winners of the Diagram (which is bestowed annually by the Bookseller magazine - a British trade magazine for the publishing industry, but voted by the public through the magazine's website), including Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, Highlights in the History of Concrete, Bombproof Your Horse, and last year's triumphant victor,

Cooking with Poo. The inaugural winner back in 1978 was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.

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The Stella Prize is a major new literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. It is named after one of Australia’s iconic female authors, Stella Maria ‘Miles’ Franklin, and celebrates women’s contribution to Australian literature. The Stella Prize rewards one writer with a significant monetary prize of $50,000.

The inaugural winner is Carrie Tiffany for her novel Mateship With Birds, which is also currently on the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award [winner to be announced on 19 June 2013].

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Australian author Michael Sala has won the Pacific region for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.

Sala’s book The Last Thread was one of five books by Australian authors shortlisted for this year’s Commonwealth Book Prize. As the regional winner, Sala will receive A$3852 and will now compete with other regional winners from Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean for the overall prize of A$15,408. Sala's book has also been shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award.

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On May 21st, Knopf will publish volume one of the authorized biography of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands is the first of a two volume set written by journalist Charles Moore.

From an early edition of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 2 to illustrated accounts of the first expeditions to America, an extraordinary collection of rare books dating back to the early 17th century has been returned to Lambeth Palace almost 40 years after it was stolen.

Birmingham UK's biggest public cultural project - the Birmingham Public Library - is ready for the librarians to move in. The enormous building features miles of bookshelves towering up on nine levels, with another below ground, to receive more than two million books. A Shakespeare Memorial Room, complete with Victorian bookcases and decorative plasterwork, will include one of the world's largest Shakespeare collections of books, pamphlets and memorabilia. A golden pillbox-shaped chamber crowns the structure, intended by the architects to be seen from far across the city.

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Independent booksellers around the country have voted - the Indie Book of the Year has gone to M.L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans. It also took out the Debut Fiction award. Best Fiction went to Nine Days by Toni Jordan; Best Non-Fiction to Richard de Crespigny for QF32.

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Publishing house, Scholastic, has announced there will be seven new Harry Potter covers. The first new cover is for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It is the first of the seven new covers to appear on trade paperback editions coming in September 2013 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the first U.S. publication.

Bring Up the Bodies by novelist Hilary Mantel has won the title of 2012 Costa Book of the Year [UK]. The sequel to Mantel's award-winning novel Wolf Hall is the second book of a trilogy.

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A British writer has written a book based on Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice" but told from the servants' point of view. In "Longbourn," which will be released later this year in the United States, writer Jo Baker focuses on a romance between the main characters, a newly arrived footman and a housemaid on the Bennet family estate.

Speaking of Austen, according to at least one source, she invented the phrase "dinner party".

A new James Bond novel, written by the award-winning author William Boyd, will be published in September. Bond creator Ian Fleming's estate confirmed the date of 26 September yesterday, but is keeping the title and plot of the spy's latest adventures a secret.

The most-borrowed book in the UK's House of Commons library is How To Be An MP, by the veteran Labour parliamentarian Paul Flynn.

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National Seniors’ Australia and Random House Australia announced the winner of the 2013 National Seniors Literary Prize. Persephone Nicholas of Mosman, Sydney was the winner from over 100 entrants from all over Australia with her first novel BURNED. The prize includes $2000 cash, a three-year National Seniors membership, e-book publication and cover design, 12 printed copies and the opportunity for further print-on-demand versions.

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Australian poet Mark Tredinnick has won first place in the 2012 Cardiff International Poetry Competition for his poem 'Margaret River Sestets'. Administered by Literature Wales, it carries a A$7731 cash prize.

The Association for the study of Australian Literature presented the Mary Gilmore Award for Poetry to Fiona Wright for her collection 'Knuckled'.

'Closer to Stone' by Simon Cleary has won the inaugural Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award. The $5000 award is part of the Queensland Literary Awards - the volunteer-led awards that replaced the axed Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.

Gail Jones has won this year's Nita B Kibble Literary Award for Five Bells. The $30,000 award recognises the work of an established Australian female writer.

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A long time between sequels ...Stephen King's website says the release date for the sequel to The Shining - Doctor Sleep - has been set for September 24, 2013. It will be published by Scribner and Hodder & Stoughton. The new story follows Dan Torrance, who is now a middle-aged man living in a small New Hampshire town.

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A Brisbane fantasy writer has become the first Australian to win the prestigious British Fantasy Award.

Angela Slatter's story The Coffin-Maker's Daughter was selected from a shortlist of 72 entries to win the short fiction category of the award.

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In the UK, J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy topped the fiction charts in the first week. Its debut swept aside rivals, becoming the fastest selling hardback novel since 2009.

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2012 DAVITT Awards ,,,

The Davitt Awards are sponsored by Sisters in Crime Australia and are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812-1879) who wrote Australia’s first mystery novel, FORCE AND FRAUD in 1865. Awards are given annually to crime writing by women in several categories. And the winners are:

Reader’s Choice Award: All the books in all the other categories are eligible for this award and all members of Sisters in Crime Australia are able to vote for it. This year the award was shared by Jaye Ford’s BEYOND FEAR with Y. A. Erskine’s THE BROTHERHOOD!.

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The winners of The Age Book of the Year Awards were announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival, 24 August.

Non-fiction: 1835: the founding of Melbourne and the conquest of Australia by James Boyce.

Fiction: Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears.

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Random House Australia Announces New Literary Prize - the National Seniors Literary Prize for 2012. The prize is awarded to a writer over fifty who has not been previously published. In sponsoring the prize, Random House is hoping to discover a new bestselling author as many famous writers started their careers later in life.Mary Wesley’s first novel was published when she was 70. Richard Adam’s first novel, Watership Down was published when he was 51 and Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t write the Little House series until she was in her sixties. Jean Rhys wrote the famous Wide Sargasso Sea when she was 76 and Frank McCourt didn’t publish the Pulitzer winning, Angela’s Ashes until he was 66. The famous Australian author, Elizabeth Jolley published her first book when she was in her fifties

The winner of the prize will have their book published by Random House along with a cash prize of $2000. For more information on the prize or entry details, go to www.nationalseniors.com.au/literaryprize

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This year's Ned Kelly Awards (the Neddies) will be announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 29 August. There will be a Lifetime Achievement Award going to Gabrielle Lord. The shortlist for prizes in Best True Crime, First Fiction, and a Short Story Award are:

Celebrated author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activistGore Vidal has died at the age of 86 (October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012).He published some 25 novels, two memoirs and several volumes of essays. In 2009, he won the annual Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book foundation.

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AWARDS NEWS:

Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears has picked up the 2012 Australian Literary Society Gold Medal.

the Royal Historical Society's WHITFIELD PRIZE has been awarded to Jacqueline Rose for Godly Kingship in Restoration England: the politics of the royal supremacy 1660-1688.

The world's most valuable short story prize, the E25,000 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award went to Nathan Englander for his collection: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.

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This year's Commonwealth Writers Prize comprises best book award and best short story prize. Best book went to Shehan Karunatilaka for Chinaman; best short story was from New Zealand writer Emma Martin for Two Girls in a Boat.

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The 2012 UK literary award for women, the Orange Prize for Fiction, has been presented to Madeline Miller for “The Song of Achilles,” a novel set during the Trojan War which casts the Homeric hero’s relationship with his friend Patroclus as a love story.

The American writer received 30,000 pounds ($46,600) and a bronze statuette called “the Bessie” at a ceremony last night at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

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The Commonwealth Book Prize for the Pacific region has gone to Cory Taylor for her debut novel, Me and Mr Booker.

The shortlist for the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards has been announced, this year with the inaugural poetry award and the newly incorporated Australian history prize.

Adult Fiction:

All That I Am by Anna Funder

Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville

Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears

Autumn Laing by Alex Miller

Forecast: Turbulence by Janette Turner Hospital.

Non-fiction:

A Short History of Christianity by Geoffrey Blainey

Michael Kirby Paradoxes and Principles by A J Brown

When Horse Became Saw: a family's journey through Autism by Anthony Macris

Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland

An Eye for Eternity: the life of Manning Clark by MarkMcKenna

Poetry:

Ashes in the Air by Ali Alizadeh

Interferon Psalms by Luke Davies

Armour by John Kinsella

Southern Barbarians by John Mateer

New and Selected Poems by Gig Ryan

Australian History:

1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia by James Boyce

The Biggest Estate on Earth: how Aborigines made Australia by Bill Gammage

Breaking the Sheep's Back by Charles Massy

Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation by Russell McGregor

Immigration Nation: the secret history of us by Renegade Films Australia Pty Ltd.

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2012 Australian Book Industry Awards:

Book of the Year 2012All that I Am, by Anna Funder

Newcomer of the Year (debut writer) 2012Past the Shallows, by Favel Parrett

Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2012All that I Am, by Anna Funder

Biography of the Year 2012Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, by Hazel Rowley

General Fiction Book of the Year 2012Sarah Thornhill, by Kate Grenville

General Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2012Worse Things Happen At Sea, by William McInnes and Sarah Watt

Illustrated Book of the Year 2012Tasting India, by Christine Manfield

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In the UK, authors are calling on the government to remunerate them when their ebooks are lent from libraries calling it "patently unjust" that digital titles are currently borrowed with no payment made to the writer.

Fifty Shades of Grey has just passed The Hunger Games to become as Amazon's #1 bestselling book of 2012. The list only counts paperback and hardcover books, not ebooks. The second through fourth spots are still held by the three books in The Hunger Games trilogy.

Still with Amazon, a recent study shows Amazon reviewers are more likely to look favourably on debut authors, while professionals prefer prizewinners.

Mexico's most celebrated novelist, 83-year old Carlos Fuentes, has died in hospital in Mexico City, reportedly from a sudden illness.

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Formerly the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the Commonwealth Book Prize has been changed this year to consist of one prize for a first novel and one for a short story. The format of regional prizes and an overall winner stays the same.

Four Australian novels have been shortlisted for the book prize - The Ottoman Motel by Christopher Currie; The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen; Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor and Purple Threads by Jeanine Leane. Only one Australian is on the short story list - Nic Low for Rush.

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The shortlist for the Orange Prize, an award for fiction by female writers, is out: Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan; The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright; Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding; The Son of Achilles by Madeline Miller; Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick; and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

The winner will be announced on 30 May.

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The Pulitzer Prize board has failed to select a fiction award winner for the first time in 35 years.

Having narrowed the field down to three novels, the Pulitzer Prize administrator said none of the works received a majority vote from the panel.

The prize in general non-fiction went to The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable, the Columbia University historian who died on the eve of its publication, won the history category.

The biography prize went to Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis's George F. Kennan: An American Life.

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Further to the announcement (scroll down a bit) of The Diagram Prize shortlist for the Oddest book title published in 2011, ta da, the winner is:

Cooking with Poo by Saiyuud Diwong (Poo is Thai for crab and also the author chef's nickname).

Errr ... congratulations.

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Kim Scott has picked up another two gongs for his novel, That Deadman Dance, by taking out the South Australian Premier's Award and the prize for fiction. Scott has already won the Miles Franklin, the Victorian Premier's Award, a regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Australian Literary Society gold medal and the WA Premier's prize.

Poetry and non-fiction awards bestowed during Adelaide Writers Week went to: Poetry - Les Murray's Taller When Prone; and Non-fiction - Mark McKenna for An Eye for Eternity: the life of Manning Clark.

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The Diagram Prize shortlist for the Oddest book title published in 2011 is out:

A Taxonomy of Office Chairs by Jonathan Olivares

Cooking with Poo by Saiyuud Diwong (Poo is Thai for crab and also the author chef's nickname)

A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel: Volume 2 - the Welsh Coast by Peter Gosson

Mr Andoh's Pennine Diary: memoirs of a Japanese Chicken Sexer in 1935 Hebden Bridge by Stephen Curry and Takayoshi Andoh

Estonian Sock Patterns All Around the World by Aino Praakli

The Great Singapore Penis Panic: and the future of American mass hysteria by Scott D Mendelson

The Mushroom in Christian Art by John A Rush

The 2011 shortlist has seven rather than the traditional six titles "in recognition of the high standard of oddity witnessed in publishing last year".

The winner will be announced at the end of March.

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The Hon. Phryne Fisher is set to hit tv screens this Friday - February 24. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is an Australian television drama series of thirteen one-hour episodes, based on Australian author Kerry Greenwood's series of Phryne Fisher detective novels. The title role is played by Essie Davis, supported by Nathan Page, Miriam Margoyles and Hugo Johnstone-Burt.

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More than 40 years after he wrote his first novel, The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth has been awarded the Diamond Dagger Prize for lifetime achievement in crime writing.

Chosen by his fellow crime authors to reward a career of "sustained excellence", 73-year-old Forsyth wins a prize which has gone in the past to John le Carré, PD James, Ruth Rendell and Elmore Leonard

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It has been 200 years since the birth of Charles Dickens ~ born 7 February 1812, died 1870 aged 58. Why not revisit some of the all time classics, like Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities or the many other titles from the Dickens' pen. We have more than 400 copies in various formats in the catalogue.

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According to The Age, MATTHEW Reilly's enduring popularity was illustrated by his latest novel, Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, finishing the 2011 year top of the fiction charts and as the best-selling Australian book (124,000), ahead of Di Morrissey's The Opal Desert (92,000).

Almost 4 million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book, a recent poll has found. The National Literacy Trust charity, which carried out the survey, said the proportion had risen from one in 10 in 2005, saying that children were reading from books and even computers less, but watching films and images on screens more.

Wish we were there: The Museum of London is holding its first major show on Charles Dickens for more than 40 years. The show features rarely seen manuscripts of his works including Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Bleak House but it also tries to give a sense of what Dickens's London looked like and will include numerous paintings of Victorian London.

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Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor won the $10,000 overall prize, as well as the $10,000 Fiction Book of the Year prize at this year's Age Book of the Year Awards.

The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGreachin won the Best Fiction Award at this year's Ned Kelly Awards for Australian Crime Writing.

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Nigerian-American novelist Nnedi Okorafor has beaten a host of big names to win the World Fantasy award for her novel Who Fears Death, set in a post-apocalyptic Saharan Africa.

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Curtis Jobling, the creator of Bob the Builder,is the author of the new Wereworld book series. The first book is Rise of the Wolf: Book 1 where Bob the Builder transforms into a werewolf. Bob's clothes tear and his arms become terribly, terribly hairy.

It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced that it has bought the rights to Mitch Winehouse's memoir about his daughter, Amy Winehouse. The memoir will be published worldwide next summer.

Amazon.com just paid $800,000 for actor and director Penny Marshall's memoir. Amazon announced the deal at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Amazon is going into the book publishing business, which is causing quite a bit of consternation among agents and publishers.

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Six authors were named on Tuesday to the shortlist of candidates for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the most prestigious literary award in Britain. They are: Julian Barnes for The Sense of an Ending.

Carol Birch for Jamrach’s Menagerie.

Patrick deWitt for The Sisters Brothers.

Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues.

Stephen Kelman for Pigeon English.

A.D. Miller for Snowdrops.

The winner, who will be announced at a ceremony in London on October 18, receives £50,000, or about $80,000.

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From 18 August to 15 September, Cranbourne Library will be displaying a Poet's Wall. Many contemporary Australian poets' work will be exhibited. Stop by, take a look, linger over the words and discover the meaning within them. No cost, all welcome.

Good news ... we've just launched freegal - free music downloads from Sony Music in MP3 format for digital devices. If you 've got a CCLC Library membership card, you can download 3 tracks a week. Check out our website http://www.cclc.vic.gov.au/for the freegal link. Happy listening!

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Speaking of new services, here's another one we've just introduced for Library members - seriously addictive language learning!

'Learn a new language today' is a powerful and personalised language-learning system. It features over 90 languages and 17 ESL courses; and being a Library member, you can access it 24/7 from anywhere. Log on to our website www.cclc.vic.gov.au, click on the link, register with your library card and PIN and follow the links! Enjoy!

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Libraries’ Rewarding Award:

One hundred and sixty-six libraries around the globe nominated titles for one of the world’s most lucrative literary prizes – the €100,000 International Impac Dublin Literary Award.The longlist and shortlist are chosen by an international panel of judges which rotates each year.

The prize is open to novels published in the preceding year, written in any language by authors of any nationality provided the book has been published in, or translated into, English.If the winning book is a translation, the prize is divided between the author and the translator, with the author receiving €75,000 and the translator €25,000.

Colum McCann’sLet The Great World Spin received the most nominations (14) from libraries in countries including Ireland, Germany, Greece, Norway, the US and Canada.The shortlist also included Ransom by Australia’s David Malouf and Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey; America’s Joyce Carol Oates for Little Bird of Heaven and Barbara Kingsolver’sThe Lacuna; and Ireland’s Colm Toibin for Brooklyn.

In other award news:

The National Literary Awards bestowed by The Fellowship of Australian Writers (Vic) Inc. is a long-established event that awards both cash and/or plaques and statues to works first published in Australia.

The award for a non-fiction book with an Australian theme went to Cameron Forbes for The Korean War: Australia in the Giant’s Playground.

Fiction: The Second-Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel.

Best book of poetry: An Absence of Saints by Rosanna Licari.

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At the second Australian Romance Readers Awards, Anna Campbell received two awards -Favourite Australian Author and Historical Romance (My Reckless Surrender).

Glenys Osborne'sCome Insidehas taken out the $35,000 Barbara Jefferis award. The prize is given to a novel that "depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society".

Australian author Kim Scott has won the South East Asia and Pacific region Best Book category of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for That Deadman Dance. Craig Cliff from New Zealand won the regional Best First Book category for A Man Melting. The two will now compete with other regional winners for the overall prize which will be announced during the Sydney Writers' Festival in May. In other award news, Rod Moss won the $5000 Chief Minister's 2011 Northern Territory Book of the Year Award from The Hard Light of Day.

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31.3.15

From the cover: Manhattan lawyer Ellen Branford is going to fulfil her grandmother’s dying wish – to find the hometown boy in Beacon she once loved and give him her last letter. Hoping to be in and out in 24 hours, Ellen ends up the talk of the town when carpenter Roy Cummings saves her life when she tumbles into the ocean. Roy happens to be the nephew of Ellen’s grandmother’s lost love, and the one person who can bring closure to her quest. But as Ellen learns what Beacon has to offer and what her grandmother left behind, she may find that a 24 hour visit will never be enough.It is heart-warming and uplifting to hear of one woman’s journey to discover the hidden past of her grandmother and discover that a simpler life that can be more rewarding than the high-flying life of the lawyer she once was.The inspiration for this novel came from the radio when Mary Simses heard one woman’s story about how her grandmother’s last words before dying were “Erase my hard drive”. Simses immediately began to wonder what was on the grandmother’s computer that she wanted to remain unknown. And so the story began but this time, with a sealed letter, rather than a computer.The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop and Café was such a beautiful story about love, loss, secrets and sacrifice.Narelle

30.3.15

It's 1967, the summer of love, and in swinging Melbourne Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin has been hauled out of exile in the Fraud Squad to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl, the daughter of a powerful and politically connected property developer. As Berlin's inquiries uncover more missing girls he gets an uneasy feeling he may be dealing with the city's first serial killer. Berlin's investigation leads him through inner-city discothèques, hip photographic studios, the emerging drug culture and into the seedy back streets of St Kilda. The investigation also brings up ghosts of Berlin's past as a bomber pilot and POW in Europe and disturbing memories of the casual murder of a young woman he witnessed on a snow-covered road in Poland in the war's dying days. As in war, some victories come at a terrible cost and Berlin will have to face an awful truth and endure an unimaginable loss before his investigation is over.I love this author - you just never know what he's going to produce next! From the hilarity of Fat, Fifty and F***ed to the horror and heartbreak of St. Kilda Blues, the man can sure do justice to the written word. This is Book 3 in the excellent Charlie Berlin series. He's a deep and fascinating character is our Detective Sergeant Berlin, and with each chapter we get further into his personality to find out what makes him tick. Even if this is your first Charlie Berlin book, you will pick up quite easily why Charlie is the way Charlie is. This book also ticked a few boxes for me in the familiarity stakes with not only the setting - my old stamping grounds of St. Kilda, South Melbourne and Parkville, but the era and its fashion, the hair, the new-fangled decimal currency, the music, even the names of the discos, like Berties, that were the bane of parents' existence. Bolte was premier, the Beatles were 'in' and the second semi final in the VFL was about to be played. It doesn't get more parochial than that, and the author delivers it in spades. This may all sound a bit lightweight, but nothing could be further from the truth. St. Kilda Blues has some full-on language at times, is quite sexually graphic and can be brutal and hardhitting, but thankfully McGeachin doesn't overplay his hand. The story is also peppered with some wry humour, some very well-written sarcasm and a well-tuned appreciation of family dynamics. He also delivers a surprising twist, one I didn't see coming, and that was very upsetting.We have this book in all formats - I chose to download the Bolinda e-Audio version with David Tredinnick delivering an excellent narration. Overall, this is a great Australian read and I highly recommend it. Deb

27.3.15

This is the story of former Sergeant Lauren Clay, a woman soldier returned from Iraq, and her beloved younger brother Danny, who is obsessed with Arctic exploration and David Bowie. Until she went into the military Lauren was the protector and provider for both Danny and her dysfunctional father after her mother left them. Lauren is home in time to spend Christmas with Danny and her father, who is delighted to have her back but reluctant to acknowledge that something feels a little strange. As she reconnects with her small-town life in upstate New York, it soon becomes apparent that things are not as they should be. And soon an army psychologist is making ever-more frantic attempts to reach her. All the characters that interact with Lauren are interesting and believable in their own right. The statistics on the lives of returned servicemen and women in America are chilling; I hope Australian veterans have better support. This is a quiet thoroughly intriguing book to read and hard to put down - you know something is wrong and you keep wondering what she is going to do, or has done. Highly recommended. Dot

26.3.15

Every December, the 170+ independent Australian booksellers that make up Leading Edge Books take stock of the year in books and nominate their favourite Australian titles for the Indie Book Awards shortlist. The shortlist falls into four categories - fiction, non-fiction, debut fiction and childrenʼs/YA books.

Judges select a winner of each category and the Indie Book Awards overall winner is voted on by the Leading Edge group as a whole.

Last night, Wednesday 25 March 2015, Don Watson was awarded the 2015 Indie Book of the Year Non-Fiction and the overall prize for The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia.Other category winners were: Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett (best fiction); Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke (debut fiction); and Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell (best children's and young adult category).Deb.

25.3.15

Ten writers are on the judges’ list of finalists under serious consideration for the sixth Man Booker International Prize, the £60,000 award which recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. It is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers. In addition, there is a separate award for translation and, if applicable, the winner may choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.

The authors come from ten countries with six new nationalities included on the list for the first time. None of the writers has appeared on a previous Man Booker International Prize list of finalists and the proportion of writers translated into English is greater than ever before at 80%.The ten authors are:César Aira (Argentina)Hoda Barakat (Lebanon)Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe)Mia Couto (Mozambique)Amitav Ghosh (India)Fanny Howe (United States of America)Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya)László Krasznahorkai (Hungary)Alain Mabanckou (Republic of Congo)Marlene van Niekerk (South Africa)Professor Marina Warner, Chair of the judging panel said: "The judges have had an exhilarating experience reading for this prize; we have ranged across the world and entered the vision of writers who offer an extraordinary variety of experiences. Fiction can enlarge the world for us all and stretch our understanding and our sympathy. The novel today is in fine form: as a field of inquiry, a tribunal of history, a map of the heart, a probe of the psyche, a stimulus to thought, a well of pleasure and a laboratory of language. Truly, we feel closer to the tree of knowledge."The 2015 Man Booker International Prize winner will be announced at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 19 May.Deb.

24.3.15

Although the author of many stand-alone novels, last year prolific UK author J M Gregson added book 26 to his Lambert & Hook series. Think gentle English country crime shows on tv and you won't be too far wrong in picking up the setting and tone of these books. I've had the 'pleasure' of reading a couple of these, and they vary widely with reviewers as well as with myself. I chose Bolinda audio downloads narrated by the somewhat grating Richard Aspel, but we have them in all formats so the print route might be a better idea. Dead on CourseBook 3 in the series

Amid the luxurious surroundings of the Wye Castle Hotel and Country Club, a man is found dead on the course. Superintendent Lambert and Sergeant Hook establish fairly quickly how he died, but discovering who killed him provesa more difficult challenge. The golf course and hotel are set in spectacular scenery beside one of England's most beautiful rivers, with Hereford's ancient Cathedral visible in the distance. In May this incomparable valley is at its best, but it is a bizarre context for the investigation of a brutal murder. Gradually, over the days of their stay, Lambert unearths the secrets of the group who surrounded the dead man. There is an urgency about his investigation, for even while the suspects play golf and enjoy good food and wine, there is more violence outside the ivy-clad walls of the old hotel. This is a typical police procedural and definitely not the crime thriller as publicised. It’s all rather humdrum; a pleasant enough time waster but tedious in patches with the writer’s determination to show off his skills with the dictionary (e.g. Pusillanimous - lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid. Anodyne - anything that relieves distress or pain. Pulchritude - physical beauty; comeliness). The Fox in the ForestBook 5 in the series

A motiveless murder - every policeman's nightmare - is committed in a stretch of forest between two peaceful villages. Superintendent Lambert and his CID team can find few connections between the people who were around at the time of this death and a victim who seems to have no enemies. Before long, it seems that they have a serial killer on their hands, selecting victims at random. The rural community closes upon itself, preserving its secrets from outsiders...With between 4, 4/12 and 5 stars on Good Reads.com, this appears to be one of the better ones in the series.If you've read any of the other in this series, we'd love to receive your review for publication. Drop us a note in the comments section below.Deb.

23.3.15

From the catalogue: Frannie O'Neill, a young and talented veterinarian whose husband was recently murdered, comes across an amazing discovery in the woods near her animal hospital. Soon after, Kit Harrison, a troubled and unconventional FBI agent, arrives on Frannie's doorstep. And then there is eleven-year-old Max - Frannie's amazing discovery - and one of the most unforgettable creations in thriller fiction. The legion of James Patterson fans would never let any of his titles disappear from our Library shelves, which is why I discovered this one! It's one of his early ones, and an absolute treat if you enjoy something that's entertaining and not too much of a brain drain! This book has reviewers completey polarised - from 5 stars: "What an amazing book. Flawless in every aspect, and throughouly enticing" or 1 star: "a dull plot, flat characters and general silliness". When the Wind Blows was written as an adult sequel to Patterson's Maximum Ride series for young adults, as as RR readers know, there are some damn fine YA titles out there to be thoroughly enjoyed. Like this one!Deb.

20.3.15

This book has prompted much discussion and reviews from two Library staff members. Why not borrow it and send in your comments?

“All I did was go the library to borrow some books”

How could anyone working in a library resist a title like this? A quick thumb-through reveals some intriguing illustrations - but don’t let them fool you - this is not a children’s book! Our protagonist is a child who visits the local library after school with a seemingly innocent request for information. From the moment he walks through the door, the tale takes on the elements of a dream - bizarre characters living within labyrinthine corridors beneath the library, whose behaviour cannot be explained. I don’t want to give any more of the story away.One wonders if the author had an unpleasant experience at the library as a child. It’s such a little book, but the story packs a wallop and tends to linger. It’s not a horror story by any means, but I would not recommend reading before bedtime. But go on - I challenge you to visit “The Strange Library”.KimAnother comment :This weird little novella by Japanese author Haruki Murakami left me wondering what was going on. A child goes to the library to return some books on his way home from school, three days later he gets home. Was what happened in between a dream? Sheepmen, disappearing girls, Ottoman taxes? Is it an allegorical tale in the Japanese tradition or maybe a joke?Fay

19.3.15

This intriguing tale is narrated by a man, Tommy Devereaux, who was witness to a horrific murder when he was fourteen years old. Back in 1981, he, along with two other mates of the same age, witnessed the murder of a young boy in the Oregon woods. All three boys were manipulated into becoming unwilling accomplices to the subsequent cover-up, swearing never to talk about what had happened on that fateful day. Thirty years later, Tommy has become a successful bestselling author and is using his writing as a kind of therapy and disguising the murder he witnessed as fiction. At a book signing event he is approached by a woman who asks for his autograph, leaving behind a note that read: 'You didn’t even change my name'. Tommy's worst nightmare has just come true. A figure from his past has returned, threatening to divulge his darkest secret unless he agrees to do everything she asks of him. Thus begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game... I loved this book for the thrills, manipulation and intrigue that is woven throughout the story. It was a page-turner that was both terrifying and tantalising. ~ Narelle

18.3.15

Carrie Bailee fled Canada and came to Australia when she was twenty. Once here she was assisted by a number of Australian women, and was ultimately encouraged to apply for refugee status in order to stay in this country. So began her battle to be granted asylum in Australia. Carrie stood before the Refugee Review Tribunal and revealed the dark underbelly of child sexual abuse and organised crime rings in our privileged, first-world neighbourhoods. This is the story of one young woman’s heroic journey to survive, escape and soar above her shocking childhood experiences, and her powerful struggle for freedom and a beautiful life in Australia.Carrie Bailee would have to be one of the bravest young women in Australia. After a years of shocking sexual, physical and psychological abuse from her own father and others, she has managed to write a compelling account of her life with candour and honesty. The chapters alternate between Australia and Canada which is just as well because the extreme nature of some of her recollections warrants a breather with more uplifting events. Because of her tendency for major blackouts explicit description is minimised, however some parts are confronting. Carrie Bailee should be so proud of not shying away from getting her story out there. She is a natural writer and encapsulates her personality nicely, revealing a good humoured and self deprecating nature despite all that has happened in her past. Ali

17.3.15

The winners of the 2014 Australian Romance Readers Awards (ARRA) have been announced. The nominations were open to all romance novels published in 2014. The awards are handed out annually in nine categories, and each year in the run-up to the awards, ARRA members are invited to choose and vote on three, special 'reader-selected' awards. This year those awards were handed out for Sexiest Hero, Favourite Cover, and Favourite New Australian Romance Author. Drum roll please …

16.3.15

From the cover: After a broken love affair, biographer Kate Kennedy retires to a remote cottage on the wild Essex coast to work on her new book - until her landlord's daughter uncovers a Roman site nearby and long-buried passions are unleashed! In her lonely cottage, Kate is terrorised by mysterious forces. What do these ghosts want? That the truth about the violent events of long ago be exposed or remain concealed? Kate must struggle for her life against earthbound spirits and ancient curses as hate, jealousy, revenge, and passion do battle across the centuries.If you like a good dose of haunting with an accompanying history lesson, Barbara Erskine is always an excellent choice. I’ve read quite a few of hers – House of Echoes, the wonderful Whispers in the Sand and its follow-on, The Sands of Time, and Daughters of Fire. They are absorbing reads, very evocative and occasionally quite scary, but most suffer, as did this one, from being just too long and drawn out. At 77 chapters, Midnight is a Lonely Place would’ve been tighter and a bit more enjoyable with 10 or so chapters less. However, Erskine’s talent at winding love/hate/jealousy and history into a modern day tale of an English seaside cottage roiling with passions long gone is an entertaining read, one I found hard to put down. It was well narrated by the talented Rula Lenska – my only beef being her pronunciation of the word ‘grimaced’ which she read as gri-maced [rhymes with raced]. Deb.

13.3.15

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of about 40 volumes. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971, and since his first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-audience novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days.Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and has sold more than 85 million books worldwide in 37 languages. He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US."The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds," said Transworld publisher Larry Finlay. He enriched the planet like few before him and through Discworld satirised the world with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention," said Mr Finlay. "Terry faced his Alzheimer's disease (an 'embuggerance', as he called it) publicly and bravely," said Mr Finlay."There was nobody like him,” added author Neil Gaiman. "Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come." The library has so many Terry Pratchett novels in various formats that it is too extensive to individually link here. Please click on the author's name at the top of this post to browse our catalogue entries.Deb.

11.3.15

Fiona Maye is a High Court judge presiding over cases in the family court. She is independent and intelligent, not to mention musical. She has the respect of her peers and plenty of experience. She knows how to weigh up the sensitive cultural and religious differences in court cases. What her colleagues don’t know however is that her marriage is crumbling and one night her husband asks her to consider an open marriage. After an argument he moves out of the house and she is adrift. She throws herself into work and finds herself involved in a complex case about a 17 year old boy, Adam, who needs a blood transfusion as he has leukaemia. The boy’s parents however refuse to allow him to have one as it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Fiona has to make a choice.This story was enjoyable and kept me interested right to the end. The domestic problems allowed a breather from the court scenes. It would have been nice if we heard more of Adam’s history but despite this I very much recommend the book.Ali

10.3.15

Andrew Solomon tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so. Solomon's startling proposition is that diversity is what unites us all. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, as are the triumphs of love Solomon documents in every chapter. The central theme of this extraordinary book is the family and how much parents, and society as a whole, should accept children for what they are and how much they should encourage them to be their best selves, even though the notion of a best self is imposed by others. Is 'normality' the only desired outcome for our children and us? Solomon has done a huge amount of research for each of the identities discussed, interviewed many families over the space of 10 years and weaves together the science, culture, ethics and a great depth of understanding, empathy and acceptance of all the differing views of each group without ever making light of the difficulties parents and children face.I was only planning to read the chapters on deafness and autism but have read it all. Though some of the stories are sad, even harrowing, many more are hopeful even joyful, all are thought provoking and many of the parents say that raising their different children added a new depth of meaning to their lives. Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original thinker, Far from the Tree explores themes of generosity, acceptance, and tolerance-all rooted in the insight that love can transcend every prejudice. This crucial and revelatory book expands our definition of what it is to be human.Take with you the wonderful picture of the young woman who spent her holidays reading some of her favourite books to her severely disabled brother "just in case" he could understand. Fay

9.3.15

From the cover: There are some summers you never want to end. The women of the Weller family, matriarch Lolly, cousins Kat, June and Isabel, have not had the easiest of relationships over the years. The cousins have gone their separate ways, but now, just as each faces a crossroads in her life, they are summoned home by Lolly for some earth-shattering news. As the women spend their first summer together in years, home truths and buried secrets begin to emerge. To ease the tension, Lolly proposes a series of movie nights dedicated to her favourite actress, Meryl Streep, and as the four women sit and discuss the parallels between films and real life, they gradually help one another confront the past and make difficult decisions about the future.I don't read a lot of chick lit but sometimes it's good to dip a toe in the water after too many crime and mystery novels. I enjoyed this book - set in Maine USA, it's a gentle read, it's not too girly girly as some can be, and you know right up front that with someone dying of pancreatic cancer that there's going to be tears somewhere. Each chapter is written from one of the four main characters, and the use of discussing who did what and why in the Meryl Streep movies they all watch is a clever segue to sharing what is really happening in their own lives. The setting provides interest - The Three Captains - a bed and breakfast that Lolly, the family matriarch owns; a book shop, a houseboat - all are evocative and easily pictured. Well narrated by Laurel Lefkow, I can recommend this audio version,( available in MP3 and e-Audio), plus we also have this in hard copy and large print.Deb.

5.3.15

In the tradition of his bestselling 'Curtin' and 'Chifley', this is David Day's exhaustive biography of one of our most fascinating prime ministers. Paul Keating was one of the most significant political figures of the late twentieth century, first as Treasurer for eight years and then Prime Minister for five years. Although he has spent all of his adult life in the public eye, Keating has eschewed the idea of publishing his memoirs and has discouraged biographers from writing about his life. Undaunted, David Day has taken on the task of giving Keating the biography that he deserves. Based on extensive research in libraries and archives, interviews with Keating's former colleagues and associates, and walking the tracks of Keating's life, Day has painted the first complete portrait of Paul Keating, covering both the public and private man.Via careful research and many interviews with Keating himself and those who knew him, Day tells the story of Keating from his childhood, through his glory years as federal treasurer and the Prime Minister and into his continuing role as political and social commentator. Some little known facts emerge along the way… I did not know that Keating arrived in parliament in 1969 courtesy of a well organised branch stack! While Day generally paints Keating in a favourable light, he does not ignore the serious character flaws that ultimately lead to his downfall at the hands of John Howard in 1996.If you enjoy revisiting the dramas of Australian political life during a period of massive reform in the 19980s and 1990s, and have an admiration (grudging or not) for this political giant, you will be enthralled by this book.Teresa

4.3.15

Richard Flanagan’s story, of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle’s wife, journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel; from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival; from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It takes its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho’s travel journal.This Man Booker Prize winner is a harrowing tale of a doctor's experience on the Thai Burma railway during World War Two. It tells the story of Dorrigo Evans, a doctor trying to survive and help soldiers in appalling conditions. This novel also tells the story of war through the Japanese sergeant’s eyes, and the colourful characters that Dorrigo tries to save from fever, infection, starvation and brutal beatings. It's also a love story of a love that can never be, a loveless marriage, and a life of infidelity. It is an epic novel that courses through the lives of people brutally affected by war. Sandra C

3.3.15

My favourite post of the year - it's Diagram Prize time! The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the year is a humorous 'literary' award that is bestowed annually in the UK by The Bookseller, a British trade magazine for the publishing industry. The winner was initially decided by a panel of judges, but since 2000, it has been decided by a public vote on the magazine's website.

The Bookseller magazine’s annual award highlights “a year of astonishing publishing depth, range and bat-guano eccentricity”, the magazine said. And the winner is ... drum roll please ... Divorcing a Real Witch: for Pagans and the people that used to love them by Diana Rajchel.

Rajchel’s title was up against :- Nature’s Nether Regions by Menno Schilthuizen- Advanced Pavement Research: Selected, Peer Reviewed Papers from the 3rd International Conference on Concrete Pavements Design, Construction, and Rehabilitation, ed. Bo Tian- The Madwoman in the Volvo: my year of raging hormones by Sandra Tsing-Loh- Where Do Camels Belong? by Ken Thompson- The Ugly Wife is Treasured at Home by Melissa Margaret Schneider, and - Strangers Have the Best Candy by Margaret Meps Schulte.Deb

2.3.15

Each year public libraries throughout the world join together to submit titles for consideration in the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, one of the world's richest literary prizes with a €100,000 prize (AUD $145,000).

27.2.15

Evan Trentham is the wild child of the Melbourne art world of the 1930s. He and his captivating wife, Helena, attempt to carve out their own small niche, to escape the stifling conservatism they see around them, by gathering together other like-minded artists. They create a Utopian circle within their family home, offering these young artists a place to live and work, and the mixed benefits of being associated with the infamous Evan. At the periphery of this circle is Lily Struthers, the best friend of Evan and Helena's daughter Eva. Lily is infatuated by the world she bears witness to, and longs to be part of this enthralling makeshift family. As Lily observes years later, looking back on events that she still carries painfully within her, the story of this groundbreaking circle involved the same themes as Evan Trentham's art: Faustian bargains and terrible recompense; spectacular fortunes and falls from grace. Yet it was not Evan, nor the other artists he gathered around him, but his own daughters, who paid the debt that was owing.I really enjoyed the story and characters, in particular the friendships between the girls. The discussions about new and frantic creativity brought an energy and excitement to the story which, for the time, was right at the forefront for art. The story is most likely inspired by the Melbourne art scenes of the time. A great read. Ali

26.2.15

From the cover: Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?"This is a debut novel by a former journalist. Rachel witnesses something on her daily train journey, but with a history of alcoholism, a broken marriage, a lost job, who possibly would believe her? You hear the individual stories of the key characters in the book and how they are all linked into the disappearance of Megan, whose story begins one year before Rachel's. I must admit, initially it was a little confusing with the dates interspersed throughout the story, but you have to just go with it, all will be revealed! Megan's story seems to move quickly forward, while Rachel's, very slowly. I thought they were a perfect analogy for two trains on different tracks, bound to converge at some point along the way. And they do. Megan goes missing on a day Rachel has drunk herself into a blackout. What has happened to Megan and what does her story have to do with not only Rachel herself, but also her fantasy story of the perfect couple? Also, what about Rachel's ex-husband and his new wife who just happen to live five houses away, how have they become linked? You can't help but get involved in the individual character's lives and develop some empathy for them.This is definitely a thriller that kept me moving quickly through the pages once the pace picked up. Think Gone Girlcrossed with Rear Window!! It's no surprise that this book has already been optioned for a film version.Janine

25.2.15

When the Night Comes tells the story of a young girl learning what is important in life and who to trust; and of a crewman on the Antarctic supply ship, the Nella Dan, a modern Viking searching to understand his past and find a place in this world for himself. When their paths cross, he teaches her the gift of stillness, of watching birds and shares tales of sailing south to the ice. She shows him what is missing in his life. Though their time together is cut short, the small gifts have been enough to set her path towards the sea. And maybe what they give to each other will mean they can both eventually find their way home.

Bo is a cook on the 'Nella Dan' while Isla and her brother have moved from the mainland to Tasmania with their mother for a 'better' life. It’s obvious there is a romantic relationship between Isla’s mother and Bo, but the real story focuses on the connection between Bo and Isla. The actual timeline of the story is brief - two summers. When the Night Comes is not a plot-driven story. The tension is understated. Emotion is the main focus. Parrett's characters are living, breathing, feeling human beings laid out on the page in a way that reminds the reader that the smallest happening can sometimes have the largest impact. It is said that everyone who enters your life is either there for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Bo opened up the world for Isla. He helped her to dream big dreams and to be unafraid of following them. Isla helped Bo realise that he wanted to have a family of his own and to raise them where he was raised, to share the traditions and experiences his father shared with him. The lives of these two characters were made better by simply knowing one another.The writing is lyrical, soulful, real. Parett’s storytelling is gentle, yet masterful, with its ability to draw you in so deeply with very little going on.LisaED: This is an abridged version of Lisa's review. You can read the full review athttp://lisa-wardle.blogspot.comLisa's poetry and stories have been published in various literary magazines and journals. Her short story collection "Reflections" was published in Dec 2009 by Ginninderra Press.

24.2.15

From the cover: John Costello and girlfriend Nadia became victims of the deranged "Hammer of God" killer who terrorized Jersey City throughout the summer of 1984. This murderer went after young courting couples in an attempt to "save their souls." Nadia was killed, but John survived. Physically and psychologically scarred, he withdrew from society and now only emerges to work as a crime researcher for a major newspaper. No one in New Jersey knows more about serial killers than John Costello. So, when a new spate of murders starts - all seemingly random and unrelated - he is the only one who can discern the pattern that lies behind them. But could this dark knowledge threaten his own life?This book is definitely in the suspense genre, but thriller it’s not. It’s so long and drawn out that you have to wait quite a while for the aforementioned suspense to kick in, but when it does, it packs a whallop. It's also different; it’s gritty, and to my mind, more realistic than a lot of crime fiction which can be a bit too slick with relationships that work out, murderers all explained and nice pat endings tidied up and pigeonholed. This police department is overworked, understaffed, hamstrung by politics and mayoral elections. Our lead detective Ray Irving is frustrated, exhausted, still missing his significant other who passed away more than a year ago, sad, lonely and depressed with the lack of progress in identifying the serial killer that is playing games with him. I did read an interesting review that said Ellory, an award-nominated English thriller writer, is out of his comfort zone by setting this story in New York, Manhattan to be exact. It mentioned the feeling of Ellory seemingly working his way through the Manhattan ‘Melway’ and that’s pretty much spot on. There are so many street references, it drives you nuts!! I listened to The Anniversary Man on Playaway and it is deftly narrated by Kyle Riley but we also have this in hard copy, large print and CD audio. If you can stick with the almost 80 chapters, it is worth it. Take note: there is some full-on language and some graphic murder scenes, so it’s not a novel for the fair-weather crime reader. Deb

23.2.15

Outback Dreams by Rachael JohnsFaith Forrester is at a crossroads. Single, thirty and living on a farm in a small Western Australian town, she’s sick of being treated like a kitchen slave by her brother and father. Ten years ago, her mother died of breast cancer, and Faith has been treading water ever since. For as long as he can remember, Daniel ‘Monty’ Montgomery has been Faith’s best friend. When he was ten, his parents sold the family property and moved to Perth, and ever since, Monty’s dreamed of having his own farm. So for the last ten years, he’s been back on the land, working odd jobs and saving every dollar to put toward his dream. So when Faith embarks on a mission to raise money for a charity close to her heart, and Monty’s dream property comes on the market, things seem like they are falling into place for them both. Until a drunken night out ends with them sleeping together. Suddenly, the best friends are faced with a new load of challenges...I don't usually read rural romances as I was disappointed with the first one by another Australian author, but this time I was pleasantly surprised after being lucky enough to receive a signed copy from Rachael herself! The story of Faith and Monty was good, and yes, it is a romance, but the story itself had a lot more substance to it. As well as getting into both sides of their families, I thought the autism storyline was very refreshing. I also liked the fact that it was not too predictable - just when you thought they were going to live happily ever after something happened!The author now has two more books about the residents of Bunyip Bay and I'm hoping that Faith and Monty make an appearance in these too.Janine

20.2.15

Twins Justine and Perry are about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest. It's been a year since they watched their dad lose his battle with cancer. Now, at only nineteen, Justine is the sole carer for her disabled brother. But with Perry having been accepted into an assisted-living residence, their reliance on each other is set to shift. Before they go their separate ways, they're seeking to create the perfect memory. For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of his favourite things: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes. For Justine, it's a chance to reconcile the decision to 'free' her twin, to see who she is without her boyfriend, Marc - and to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs. But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble...I was such a fan of Kindling that I was automatically interested in reading Are You Seeing Me? I was not disappointed. The author's use of the twin's father’s letters and journal add an extra layer to this dual narrator story, and the theme of independence is a big one. During their trip, Perry predicts an earthquake and his prediction comes true. Justine is hurt during the earthquake. She isn’t breathing. Perry, rather than melting down in this high stress situation and failing to function, revives Justine using CPR and gets the help of a stranger to get her to the hospital. These are things he would normally have problems with, things Justine would never expect him to be able to deal with on his own, but he does. Perry has far more self-awareness and empathy than those around him can understand. There is a difference with being independent and being interdependent. Independence suggests you do everything for yourself without the need for assistance. Interdependence is the skill of being able to ask for the help you need when you need it. I believe this is far more important and Perry proved he is capable of doing just that. He saved his sister’s life. She has to respect and admire him for that. He is not the ’little’ brother she’s always taken care of anymore, he’s much more than that. He’s a man.Groth has created a story with heart. Family is the main focus, but in particular, forgiveness.LisaED: This is an abridged version of Lisa's review. You can read the full review athttp://lisa-wardle.blogspot.comLisa's poetry and stories have been published in various literary magazines and journals. Her short story collection "Reflections" was published in Dec 2009 by Ginninderra Press.